Louella Alexander
by fallingferns
Summary: It's the year 1981 and Louella Alexander, a Muggle-born witch, is starting Hogwarts. She goes into this new world expecting it to be everything she ever wanted, but she instead gets caught up in the wizarding world's politics as the Muggle-borns in the castle fall mysteriously ill, but when did it suddenly become her responsibility to figure out who is behind all this? She's 11!
1. Louella & Laurie

Louella looked at the wall dividing platforms nine and ten with unease, to her it didn't matter how many times Professor McGonagall had assured her that she would be alright and that she wouldn't crash headfirst into the barrier, it didn't matter that she had seen weirder things the month before when she went to Diagon Alley, it didn't matter that every now and then people with trunks on carts would disappear through that barrier, Louella refused to believe that she wouldn't smack head first into that thing.

Louella looked at the barrier between platforms nine and ten once more and she let out a sigh. If she ever wanted to go to Hogwarts, if she ever wanted to leave that orphanage, she would have to make a fool of herself. Mustering as much courage as she could, Louella moved back a bit and took a running start at the barrier, bracing herself for an impact that never came.

Instead, she kept on running until she saw a scarlet steam engine with smoke billowing out of it. There was a sign that read, Hogwarts Express 11:00. Louella's jaw dropped as she took in the sights, forgetting that if she stayed there any longer she would block someone else, so she moved along, making her towards the train, trying to ignore all the families struggling to say goodbye to each other, the overbearing mothers refusing to let go of her children no matter how much they begged to be let go, the siblings either crying about having to say goodbye or about the fact that they want to go to Hogwarts now, or both.

Louella struggled to lift her trunk off the cart and drag it up the train door, hoping that some older student would see her, take pity, and help her, but no one came and Louella was forced to drag that trunk all the way down the train, looking for an empty compartment. Luckily for her, there was an empty compartment at the very front of the train so she didn't really have to walk around as much. She struggled to put her trunk up, almost dropping it on herself. Louella let out a shriek and jumped back in surprise, she stared at her trunk and decided to shove it to the end of the compartment, under the window, she stared at it and she started to feel dread welling up inside her as she realized she would have to go through this again when she arrived at the Hogwarts. Not wanting to dwell on what was to come any longer, Louella sat down in her compartment and started digging around her bag in which she had put her separate things for the ride, like one would do when going on a flight, and pulled out her robes, she stood up and walked out of the compartment in search for a bathroom so that she could change, feeling too uncomfortable to change in the compartment.

When Louella returned to her compartment she found that it was no longer empty. Inside the compartment sat a girl staring out the window that seemed to be the same age as Louella, she seemed taller than Louella and had light mid-length, wavy, light brown hair and brown eyes and a round face and she was also wearing her Hogwarts robes, she had managed to put her trunk up as well as Louella's. She looked up when she heard the compartment door slide open and a smile found her way to her face, "Hi, I'm Laurie Fawley, nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand, expecting for Louella to shake it. Louella looked at her hand and hesitantly took it, "Louella Alexander, likewise."

Laurie smiled once more and said, "That's a pretty name, but it's too long for me. Do you mind if I call you Lou instead?" Louella shrugged and said, "Call me whatever you want, I don't care," and she went and sat across from Laurie and looked out the window. They fell into a silence as they waited for the train to start moving, Lou tugging on her blonde locks anxiously because the brunette sitting across from her was staring at her intently. After a few awkward minutes, Laurie finally asked, "So what house do you want to be in?" "Huh?" "What house are you hoping to get?" Lou paused, thinking about what Professor McGonagall had said about the Hogwarts houses, "Any are fine really, as long as I get to stay at Hogwarts, I don't care," "Oh, well, I'm going to Slytherin, that's for sure." "Why is that?" "My whole family's been in Slytherin, that's why."

Louella thought about this, "Which one was Slytherin again?" Laurie looked at her and asked, "Are you a muggle-born?" "Muggle..? Oh yeah, I guess so," Lou answered awkwardly, "Should have guessed, judging from your last name. Anyway, Slytherin is the house of the snakes, the evil people." Lou raised a brow, "Evil people?" "Yeah, home of the death eaters, you-know-who, etc." "Death...eaters? You-know-what?"

Laurie shot Lou a sympathetic look, "You-know-who is this massive blood purist that believes that all purebloods should rule over everyone else, muggle-borns and muggles especially. His followers are called death eaters and most, if not all of them are in Slytherin, you-know-who himself was a Slytherin." Lou looked terrified but she couldn't stop herself from asking, "You-know-who was the guy's name?" Laurie laughed and said, "No, he has a name but no one calls him by that, they're too scared to, his name is a taboo." "Does he...does he kill people?" "I don't think you-know-who himself kills people, probably thinks he's too powerful to actually do his busy work himself, his followers, however, do kill people, lots of people."  
Louella's face must have paled because Laurie suddenly looked sympathetic and said, "Don't worry, you'll be fine, Lou, you're going to Hogwarts after all, it's the safest place in all of the magical world, s' long as you're there you'll be alright." "You said that you were definitely going to Slytherin, are you calling yourself evil?" Laurie looked at her and said, "No, I'm not like my family, unlike them, I don't actually care about blood status, but I do have to go to Slytherin if I don't my parents might actually kill me."

As Louella contemplated what Laurie said the train started pulling out of the station and she looked out the window. "Say, Louie, if I do end up going to Slytherin, which I will, and you end up going somewhere else, which you will because you're a muggle-born, will you still be friends with me- if you want to be friends with me in the first place, which I doubt you will since you know who my family is." Lou smiled and said, "I'd love to be friends with you, and I'd like to continue being friends with you, even if you do end up going to Slytherin." Laurie smiled at Lou's reassurance and quickly began another conversation. 

Louella and Laurie were in the middle of discussing Quidditch, Laurie was desperately trying to explain the rules to Louella who looked even more confused the more Laurie tried to explain it, when the trolley witch approached their compartment, "Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked with a kind smile on her face, Laurie immediately stood up and made her way to the trolley cart, turning to Louella briefly asking, "Want anything, Louie?" Lou shook her head and said, "I'll get a stomach ache, better off not eating anything." "We have a very long way to Hogwarts, you're going to get hungry and then you'd get a stomach ache anyway, you might as well eat something, something light at least, some Chocolate Frogs, maybe some Pumpkin Pasties?" "Oh, alright," Lou relented.

Laurie came back with a handful of Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties and something called Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and something else called Sugar Quills. "The Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties are for you, the every flavour beans and Sugar Quills are for me, but you're welcome to take some." Lou nodded appreciatively grabbed a Chocolate Frog, "They have cards of famous witches and wizards inside them, you can, you know, start a collection of them." Lou nodded and unwrapped the Chocolate Frog, eating the candy first before acknowledging the card, by the time she got to the card she saw that were there should have been a photo was a blank space, she raised her brows, "You took too long so she left," Laurie provided.

Lou immediately looked up, "The pictures move?!" She exclaimed, "Well, duh," said Laurie so casually she could have been talking about the weather. Lou still looked astonished as she looked back down and saw that the picture was supposed to be of a woman named Alberta Toothill, she quickly turned over the card and read her description. "Want some?" Lou looked up and saw that Laurie was offering some jellybeans, probably some of those every flavour things she got. Lou was about to accept when Laurie remembered something, "Oh, wait, I wouldn't eat those if you have sensitive taste buds, they're serious when they mean every flavour." Lou quickly retracted her hand and went to grab a Pumpkin Pasty instead. Laurie and Lou started talking about the classes they were going to take at Hogwarts, Laurie sharing her wisdom that she got from her pure-blood family and Louella completely entranced in everything she was saying, making little comments here and there and before they knew it, the sky was darkening and the train was slowing down.


	2. The 1981 Sorting

Louella made it vital that she be behind Laurie at all times so as to not get lost in the crowd of first years, she even grabbed Laurie's robes at one point because the crowd just kept getting bigger and she just instinctively grabbed it. After a lot of struggle, Louella found herself outside at some sort of platform, she noticed that all the first years were staying in place here whilst all the other students went somewhere else and she found herself wondering what the point of that when suddenly she heard a loud, gruff voice yell, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Lou turned, ready to follow the voice when she thought her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

In front of her was a giant man and by giant, she didn't mean a really tall man, she meant an actual giant. He had a face that was almost completely hidden by a wild beard with a bunch of tangles and an insane mane of hair, his eyes reminded Lou of two small beetles and he was wearing a coat of pockets. "I didn't know giants existed!" Lou whispered to Laurie who just gave her an exasperated look, "You've seen goblins before, you didn't make the logical guess of giants exist too?" "My mind just didn't make that connection." As they were talking the giant had checked that all the twenty-something first years were there and now he was telling them to follow him and to mind their step.

The giant led them down a steep and narrow path and Lou found herself wondering how bad and annoying this would be if it had been raining, what a horrible way to start the term. She had been so lost in her train of thought she didn't realize how far along they were down the path until it opened up onto the edge of a black late, up ahead, perched on a high mountain was a giant castle that looked as if it had come right out a book of fairytales Louella's late mother would read to her at night, there were many towers and turrets and about a dozen windows and Louella just couldn't stop her mouth from dropping open. Beside her, Laurie let out a gasp and a bunch of the other first years ooohed and ahhed.

Louella noticed a fleet of boats at the edge of the lake, "No more' n four to a boat!" The giant called out, getting into a boat himself, taking up the whole thing. The eleven-year-olds scrambled to get into a boat with their new friends that they made on the train and Louella and Laurie ended up sharing a boat with another girl and a mean looking boy. The girl had a light tan and freckles spread around her delicate looking face, she had long, straight dark brown hair and hazel eyes, she smiled politely when she saw Laurie and Louella board the boat. The boy, however, did not look as nice, he was pale and have wavy brown hair, he had mean, blue eyes that seemed to judge Louella with every step she took but softened slightly when he looked at Laurie.

"Hi, I'm Hazel," The girl offered, Laurie looked at Hazel's eyes and said, "Really? Hazel? Are you named after your eyes?" Lou worried that this might offend Hazel but she smiled instead and said, "No, I'm named after my grandma, the eyes are purely coincidental." "Oh, yeah well, I'm not really one to talk about strange names, I'm Laurie Fawley, feel free to laugh." Hazel giggled but it didn't sound as if she was laughing at Laurie's name. Louella spared a glance at the boy but he didn't seem to be in the mood for talking to anyone so she just left him alone and turned to Hazel and Laurie. Laurie looked at Lou and said, "This is my friend, Louise," Hazel looked at Lou and her eyes seemed to light up, "Nice to meet you, Louise," she said, holding her hand out for Lou to shake it.

Lou smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you too but my name isn't Louise, it's Louella." Hazel's smile didn't falter and she instead complimented Lou's name and then turned and looked at the scenery surrounding them. The boat fell into a peaceful silence that was only broken every now and then when Laurie would whisper a stupid joke to Louella. After a while they reached some sort of underground harbor and they clambered out of the boats, Louella slipping and almost falling into the lake in the process. Laurie snorted, "Wow, you're so graceful, Louise," she said as she rushed over to help her friend get out the boat, "Shut it," Louella muttered as she stepped out of the boat. "Mind yer step," the giant called out, noticing all the first years struggling to get out of the boats.

The students followed the giant up a steep passageway that turned out into damp grass that was in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and clambered around a giant, oak door. "Everyone here?" Hagrid asked and he got a bunch of murmurs in response, he turned to the door and knocked three times. Louella was expecting something magical to happen like in Diagon Alley and Platform 9 34but instead the door just opened normally and a familiar looking witch stepped out. She had black hair that was tied into a bun, she was wearing square-framed glasses and emerald green robes, she had a stern face that softened when she looked at Louella. This was Professor McGonagall the witch who had introduced Louella to the wizarding world.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," the giant announced. Professor McGonagall nodded and said, "I will take them from here, Hagrid" She led them through the ginormous entrance hall. There were stone walls that were lit with torches, the ceiling was so high up you couldn't even see it and there was a grand marble staircase that led up to the upper floors. There was a droning sound coming from behind a doorway and that was when Louella realized that the other students were making their way to the castle through what was surely a much faster route while the first took the longer way, probably for a dramatic entrance or something. Louella very much expected to go and enter through the doorway, where the other students were, but instead, Professor McGonagall led them into a room near the doorway.

It was a small room so they were forced to stand to each other a lot more closely than Lou was comfortable with, what did comfort her was the fact that all the other students looked just as nervous as she did, she had originally thought that she would be the only one that was nervous because she didn't grow up with witches and wizards like everyone else did, and it's not like her parents used to be magical so it was only natural for her to think that, but looking at everyone else's worried expressions calmed her down a great deal.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Professor, "the start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Louella grew worried about that. How would she be able to keep up her newfound friendship with Laurie if they go to different houses? Lou had originally thought that she would just need to sleep in the same dormitory and attend classes with her house but she was now being told by the professor that she would have to do everything with her house. Suddenly anxiety overtook her mind again. The professor left and that was when Louella realized she hadn't been paying attention. She mentally kicked herself and figured she would ask someone else about it after the ceremony.

There was a heavy silence in the room, all the first years were either trying to calm themselves or were internally freaking. After what seemed like an eternity, Professor McGonagall came back and announced that the ceremony was about to begin and Louella found herself wondering what the point of her leaving. "Form a line and follow me," she said and the to-be students obeyed immediately. She led them out of the room, back across the hall in front of the previous doorway, the double doors swung open and the first years walked into the beautiful great hall. There four tables littered about the hall filled with a bunch of the older students, above the table thousands upon thousands of floating candles were lit up and looking back down at the table Louella saw a bunch of goblets and plates that seemed to be made of gold. Up ahead was another long table where the staff was seating, staring at the students expectantly. Professor McGonagall guided the first years here and made them stand in a line facing the other students with the teachers sitting behind them. Louella heard Hazel say something about the ceiling so she looked up to see that there was no ceiling, or at least it looked like there was no ceiling, it looked as if the sky opened up to the night sky and it was absolutely breathtaking that Lou almost gasped.

Louella looked back down when she heard something being placed down on the floor and saw Professor McGonagall placing a stool in front of the first years, on top of the stool she put an old, ugly hat with a rip near the brim of the hat and she briefly wondered if she would have to put on that hat, and then she wondered about all the lice that that hat must have. She looked back at Professor McGonagall, expecting her to start spewing out instructions on what to do when she heard singing, she looked back and saw that the rip near the brim had opened up and was now singing. Her jaw dropped as she took in the fact that a _hat_ was _singing_. When the hat had finished its song, the great hall burst into applause and Louella awkwardly joined in, still in awe at the singing hat.

The professor stepped forward and said, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she looked down at the scroll and announced the first name,"Alexander, Louella!"

Louella's heart froze and she found herself hating her last name that was now making her go first. Louella hesitantly stepped forward, her legs feeling as if they were made of jelly and her whole body numb picked up the hat, sat down on the stool and put the hat on her head, it fell and completely covered her eyes. There was silence when "How interesting…" _OH MY GOD_, Louella thought, the hat having startled her so much she jumped must have jumped about a hundred feet in the air. Louella heard the hat chuckle, "Startled you did I? Now that's something new for someone so usually calm. Yes… calm under fire, you seem to be used to that sort of thing… I see a lot of loyalty here and plenty of courage too" Louella didn't know what this meant, she never considered herself to be brave per se, and she didn't really have anyone that she could be loyal to but she didn't say anything, she just stayed silent as this hat judged her. "Yes… I know just what house you belong in. There is no doubt about it, GRYFFINDOR!" Louella took the hat off and it took her a moment to realize that the hat had announced that last part to the whole hall and that the table on the far left burst into cheers. Louella shakily stood up and put the hat back down on the stool and made her way to the table that was currently clapping, figuring that that was the Gryffindor table, seeing Laurie flash a bright smile at her out of the corner of her eye.

Once she sat down Professor McGonagall called the next name, "Araragi, Daniel!" A tall, thin, pale boy with black hair and blue eyes approached the hat and was sorted into Ravenclaw, the table next to Lou's cheered and clapped but they did it in a much more dignified way than the rowdy Gryffindors. "Ash, Mary!" a tall girl with fair skin and mid-length, curly, light-brown hair and green eyes that looked rather snobbish, approached the hat and was sorted into Slytherin. "Bela, Hazel!" Louella looked up and flashed Hazel a supportive smile, Hazel noticed and smiled back just before the hat fell down on her head and covered her eyes. After a few minutes, the hat declared her another Ravenclaw, she made her way to the table next to Louella's. She sat down next to Daniel and turned around and waved at Lou, who waved back.

"Bulstrode, Harold!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Carrow, Luther!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Chapman, Helen," became the first Hufflepuff and the first table to the right burst into loud cheers. "Colton, Aaron," was another Slytherin, "Ellis, Joshua," was sorted into Hufflepuff, and then- "Fawley, Laurie!" A couple of snickers erupted at Laurie's name but Laurie didn't seem to care, she approached the sorting hat with such dignity that Lou was almost impressed. After a few minutes, the hat finally announced its choice,

"SLYTHERIN!"

Louella felt her heart drop as Laurie walked to the table that was the furthest away from hers. She felt her hopes of keeping that friendship with Laurie alive withering extinguishing like a flame, but she then remembered that she promised Laurie that she would still be friends with Laurie, even if she went to Slytherin, so she clapped for her. She clapped loudly and proudly for Laurie, ignoring all the stares she was getting from the Gryffindor table. From the other side of the room, Laurie flashed her a grateful smile and sat down, and the sorting continued. By the end of it, Gryffindor ended up with eight new lions, Hufflepuff ended up with six new badgers, Ravenclaw ended up five new Eagles and Slytherin ended up with six new snakes. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood up, "Welcome, new and old students, to another year at Hogwarts! There are a few words that I would like to say, but I'm sure you're all rather famished, so let's eat first! Let the feast begin!"

**I would like to thank petitecanard for leaving a****review.**


	3. When It Comes to Food, Take a Risk

As the headmaster said those words food just appeared on the plates out of seemingly thin air. Louella stared in shock as her mind battled for what she should process first, the fact that the food appeared out of thin air or the food itself. It was the most food Louella had seen in her life in one dinner, everything she could think of was there, roast beef, roast chicken, lamb chops, sausages, Yorkshire pudding and so much more food that Louella had never eaten, she almost wanted to put a little bit of everything on her plate, but she managed to restrain herself and instead just settled with eating roast chicken, roast potatoes and carrots.

The girl next to Lou didn't seem to care about what her stomach would feel later as she was piling as much food as she could onto her plate, getting a little bit of everything except for the peas. She suddenly turned to face Louella and promptly introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Maya, Maya Saxe, very nice to meet you!" Maya was a petite girl with a round face and striking blue eyes, she was a great deal paler than the boy Lou had shared a boat with, whose name turned out to be George Senator and had ended up being sorted into Slytherin, and that Mary girl combined. In fact, it seemed as if Maya hadn't seen daylight in years. Maya had beautiful blonde curls, in fact, at times they seemed to be glowing, which, considering what Lou had already seen, didn't seem all that impossible.

Louella smiled back and it didn't actually feel forced, for whatever reason she seemed to be at complete ease with this girl. "Louella," Maya's face scrunched up and she said, "Can I call you Ella instead?" Lou just nodded, once again not really caring about what people called her. Maya smiled a sparkling bright smile, "Great! Well, it is very lovely meeting you, Ella… How-how do you do?" Maya said, rather awkwardly too but Louella didn't really mind and just answered her, "I'm doing fine, thank you. What about you, Maya?" "Me? Oh, well I'm do...ing… just… fine…" Maya trailed off as she looked ahead of her and Louella followed her gaze.

Ella's mouth dropped for what felt like the hundredth time that night as she stared straight ahead at a ghost that was walking- _floating_ up and down the house table. The ghost looked as if he had come out of the sixteenth century, which Louella supposed he did since he was a ghost and all. The ghost noticed the two blondes gaping at him and he smiled, "Hello there, new Gryffindors, I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpignton, at your service. I am the resident ghost of Gryffindor tower," Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-whatever said. Maya's jaw dropped, "You don't really expect me to call you all those names, do you?" She asked in a somewhat rude manner that seemed to offend Sir Nicholas. He was about to answer her question when some older student interrupted him, "Of course not!" The older student exclaimed, "Everyone just calls him Nearly Headless Nick."

Louella felt bad for Sir Nicholas, she really did. She figured it must feel bad for people to not call you by your name and by some stupid nickname instead (despite the fact that she didn't really care about what people called her) but she still couldn't stop herself from asking, "How is it possible to be nearly headless, if you mind me asking." The ghost gave her an annoyed look and stiffly said, "Like this," and he tugged on his ear, his whole head swung off his neck, his head fell onto his shoulder, the only thing keeping it attached to Sir Nicholas's body was a thin piece of flesh that reminded Louella of a door hinge. Needless to say, the act was disgusting and Louella immediately lost her appetite, Maya, however, seemed fascinated and not at all bothered by this.

Sir Nicholas swung his head back into place and floated away pompously. Louella pushed her plate back and said, "Well, I just lost my appetite and I've just made enemies with a ghost," Maya giggled, "You should try and eat anyway, though," she advised, "It's the start of term feast and we only get to enjoy it once as first years." Louella just shook her head stubbornly and said, "No don't worry, I'm fine. I don't think I really want to eat anything right now after what Sir Nicholas just did." Maya seemed as if she wanted to say something but then decided against it and turned back to her dinner, Louella never noticing Maya wrapping little bits of chicken and roasted potatoes in a napkin and stuffing it into her wand pocket.

After a while, the food suddenly disappeared and was replaced by all kinds of desserts, including an ice cream block tower. Maya looked over Louella, who seemed quite glum and asked, "Do you still not have an appetite?" Louella just nodded and Maya looked at her with a weird expression before shrugging and piling food up to her plate. "So, Ellie, what classes are you looking forward to the most?" Maya asked politely after she finished eating whatever was in her mouth at the moment. Lou shrugged, "History of Magic sounds interesting," she answered as she looked back up at the ceiling again, her mind briefly wondering what would happen if it rained. She sure was thinking about rain an awful lot that night.

"Don't get your hopes up, according to my sister History of Magic is the most boring class you're going to take," A tall, dark-skinned boy with curly brown hair and hazel eyes that Louella recognized as Nathaniel Kuran, put in. "Really?" Maya asked, "But I heard that that class is taught by a ghost." "It is?!" Louella exclaimed, "I didn't know that!" The same boy who had told them about Nearly Headless Nick suddenly joined in, "Yeah, Professor Binns, he's the only teacher at Hogwarts that's a ghost," he explained, "You'd think that that would make the class interesting but the only thing he does is give the dullest lectures you will ever hear in your life. By the way, I don't believe I've introduced myself, I'm Ethan Castro, the Gryffindor prefect, nice to meet you." Maya nodded and turned back to Nathaniel, "So, your name was Nathaniel, right?" Nathaniel nodded and said, "And you two should be Saxe and Alexander?" Maya nodded, "Yeah, so uh, Nathaniel, who's your sister?" "Anna Kuran, she's a Hufflepuff. So, Maya, do you have a sister?" Maya nodded and covered her mouth, as she was currently eating an eclair and once she was done with that she answered. "I have two younger siblings, they're twins and they're a pain. The good thing is that they don't start Hogwarts for another three years." Nathaniel nodded, "What about you, Louella? Do you have any siblings?"

Louella, who was staring up at the staff table, suddenly turned back to look at Nathaniel, "Hmm? Oh… n-no. I don't have any siblings." Maya laughed and said, "Lucky!" Louella smiled and looked back up at the ceiling as Maya and Nathaniel started to discuss their families. After a while, the desserts disappeared as well and all the attention was back on Headmaster Dumbledore as he stood up. He had a big smile on his face, "Now that we're all fed and watered, I have a few start of term notices to give out. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils." "I'm already making plans on when and how to go in there," Maya whispered to Lou.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, we have two new changes to the staff. It is with deepest regret that I now inform you that our beloved Professor Slughorn has retired." "Jeez, the way he worded that made it seem as if the man died," Maya muttered. "-But I am delighted to say that Professor Severus Snape has kindly agreed to take the job as our new Potions professor and our new head of Slytherin house."

There was scattered applause as a hooked-nose man with sallow skin and black hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in years stood up. The only ones that actually seemed to care about him being a new potions teacher were the Slytherins who were all clapping hard for him, all of them except for Laurie who seemed rather reluctant to clap. "And as to our second appointment," continued the headmaster once the clapping died away, "Professor Sakamaki has kindly agreed to fill in for Professor Skyle for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position." An attractive Asian woman with straight, dark brown hair and chocolate eyes stood up and Louella saw a lot of the boys clapping for her, "Now go on and have a good night's rest, you have a long day tomorrow. Pip pip."

There was a loud scraping as the students stood up to go to their respective dorms. "First years follow me!" A tall, tan girl with mid-length wavy brown hair and dark brown hair and equally dark eyes announced. The first years scrambled after her who was standing in the doorway waiting for them with a huge smile on her face, "Hello I'm Maria Klusmeyer, your prefect, nice to meet you all." "I thought Ethan was the Gryffindor prefect?" Charlotte Mikaelson, a small light-skinned girl with curly, short dull blonde hair and large green eyes, asked. Maria smiled and said, "There are two prefects for each house, a boy and a girl," Maria explained, "Now come on, follow me to Gryffindor Tower," Charlotte gasped, "We get to live in a tower?!" "Of course, where else did you expect us to stay at?" Ann Sunstar, a snobbish looking girl with fair skin and long, straight blonde hair with judgemental gray eyes answered.

The first years followed after Maria out of the great hall and up the beautiful, grand, marble staircase. She led them down a corridor with a bunch of paintings that moved to Louella's shock, every now and then Maria would wave to some of the paintings. She led them down through a bunch of hidden corridors and up more staircases and Louella was just discovering the bad thing about having to live in a tower. At one point, they passed the Ravenclaws who also lived in a tower and Louella spotted Hazel who waved at her excitedly. After a bunch of long corridors and stairs, they finally stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady wearing a silk pink dress and Louella was reminded of Diagon Alley and Platform 9 34and she just wished that wizards just had normal doors.

Maria stepped in front of the portrait and said, "This is the Fat Lady, she guards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. In order to get in you have to tell her the password, you can't tell anyone who isn't in Gryffindor the password. The password changes every few weeks, so I suggest you look at the Gryffindor notice board every day just so that you don't get accidentally get locked out of the tower," she turned to the Fat Lady who asked for the password, "Fortitudo," the portrait swung forward to a round hole in the wall, Maria then turned to the first years, "It would do you good to remember that, come now," and she beckoned them over. The first years climbed through the portrait hole after Maria and they found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, which was very cozy and filled with a bunch of squashy armchairs by a roaring fire. There were many windows with a great view of the grounds outside and just above the fire was a cloth depicting a lion. There were two tables scattered on either side of the room with chairs by it, Louella figured that this where they went to study and there was a red couch just in front of the fire. There were students everywhere catching up with old friends and just relaxing by the fire.

Maria led them up a staircase with two doorways, "Alright boys, keep on walking to the right until you see a door with a plague that says first years, girls follow me," Maria said and guided as to where the boys need to go and the girls soon began following Maria to the doorway to the left and up a spiral staircase, they kept on walking until they were at the top of the staircase, they stopped in front of a door with a plaque that said, first years. Maria turned to them, "This is your dorm and your home away from home for the next seven years, I hope you find it comfortable," she smiled at them before continuing, "And just so you know, if the boys try getting up here the staircase will turn into a slide and bring them right back down, they can only come up if you invite them in," and with that she walked away, leaving the girls to get settled.

In the dormitory, much like the common room downstairs, was a round room with five four-poster beds with velvet curtains hanging from them, next to each bed was a bedside table with lanterns on them and by every bed were huge windows as well. There were red and gold rugs in the center of the room and at one of the corners of the room was full-length mirror. Their trunks had been brought up and were now sitting at the foot of the beds and Louella's bag was sitting on top of her trunk. Most of the girls were too tired to talk and just rushed to change into their pajamas, except for Ann Sunstar who kept bragging about how she had a room just like this back at her mansion to a starry-eyed Charlotte, next to her, Louella heard Noa Sinistra and mutter something under her breath.

One by one the girls climbed into bed and Ann finally shut her big mouth. Louella suddenly started to feel regret for not eating dinner as her stomach now burned with hunger. Trying to shake away that feeling she turned in her bed and tried to get herself comfortable but then her stomach started growling and she cursed herself, afraid one of the other girls heard her, she didn't know why, but it felt embarrassing to think that one of the other girls heard her stomach growling. And one of the girls did hear her stomach growling.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around to see Maya standing over her holding something, "Here," she said softly and Lou sat up and grabbed the napkin, unwrapping it to find cut up pieces of food there. She shot Maya a grateful look and began eating in silence as Maya sat down on the edge of the bed, "I told you so," she said and let out a humorless chuckle, "I can not believe that you didn't eat anything just because you lost your appetite over something that stupid as a ghost's barely disembodied head." Louella swallowed before answering, "I have a pretty weak stomach, you know? A lot of things make me sick easily and I didn't want to risk anything," Maya stared at her, "Because you didn't want to take a risk you made things worse for yourself, know that in the future," she looked at her, blue eyes looking into blue eyes, and after a while Louella finally smiled, "Thank you for the food, I'm sorry you had to give it up to me," Maya laughed, "I didn't save food for me, idiot, I saved it for you. I sorta anticipated you going hungry later so I just saved food, just in case, and if you didn't want it I could just eat it myself!" "Oh, well… thank you anyway, and I guess I'll remember what you said for the future." Maya smiled at her, "You're welcome, oh and have a good night's sleep."


	4. Anne Ryanne Sunstar

Louella woke up that morning at the crack of dawn with the sun hitting her in her face. She tossed around in her bed before reluctantly getting up and looking around the room, all the other girls were still sleeping except for Noa Sinistra, who was already dressed and currently making her bed. The dark-skinned girl looked at Louella, "Good morning," she said, giving a curt nod, "Yeah, good morning," Louella said looking away and out the window. It was a beautiful sight, being so high up gave them the advantage of being able to see most of the grounds at Hogwarts, the forest, the lake, a tree that seemed to want to kill every bird that flew by.

"I'm going downstairs to get breakfast," Noa announced as she walked towards the door, "At this hour?" Louella questioned, "Classes start early, if I go now I'll have time to eat, get my class schedule and get a headstart on finding our first class," she stopped right in front of the door, "I suggest you do the same, by the way," and with that she walked out of the room. Louella let out a sigh and dragged herself out of bed, fishing around her trunk for her robes. It took her a few moments to realize that there was a Gryffindor emblem sewn onto her robes and that all her ties were now red and gold.

"How did that happen?" Murmured Louella tiredly, "Magic," Maya answered, covering her head with her pillow. Louella gave her a weird look, "How do you know what I'm talking about?" She questioned, "Whatever it is you were wondering about probably has something to do with magic," said Maya, still refusing to get up. Louella began tying her tie, "You should start getting ready," she said, thinking about what Noa said, "Ugh, give me a few more minutes, I'm tired," Maya complained. Louella sighed and went and stood in front of the full-length mirror to brush her hair, she decided to tie it up into a low pony-tail, she grabbed her brown schoolbag and opened her trunk, rummaging around for her school books, "What classes do you think we're going to take today?" She asked Maya, "No idea," Maya mumbled in response. Louella shrugged and stuffed all her books in her school bag, she carefully added her parchment, quills, and ink, so that nothing would tear or spill. She stood up and grabbed her wand from her nightstand, Hawthorn wood, unicorn hair core, and 31 centimeters long, she had been rather proud of herself when she had first gotten that wand, albeit she had no idea what that combination meant she did remember Mr. Ollivander saying that if used right, that could be a very powerful wand, she smiled at her wand before stuffing it in her wand pocket. She shrugged on her bag and turned to walk out when Maya stopped her, "See you in the great hall in... whenever minutes," she said and Louella just smiled and waved goodbye, although she was sure that Maya couldn't see her.

Louella walked down the spiral staircase and out into the common room that was peacefully empty and quiet. Someone had put the fire out sometime during the night so it was currently a little bit chilly and since the sun had just come out a few minutes ago there was a nice atmosphere about the common room. She walked out of the common room, through the portrait hole and it was at that moment that she realized that she had absolutely no idea where the great hall was because she hadn't been paying any attention to where they were walking last night. She let out an exasperated sigh and turned around and banged her head against the wall. She felt a pair of eyes watching her and that's when she remembered that paintings moved here, she turned around and looked at the Fat Lady awkwardly and opened her mouth to ask for directions but instead what came out was, "F-f-fortitudo." The portrait swung forward to reveal the hole in the wall. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean that I-uh... bye!" Louella stuttered out, running away, only looking back to make sure that the portrait was closed.

She kept on running until she came upon a stairwell, pausing there to take a few deep breaths. Gryffindor is supposed to be the house of the brave and for whatever reason, that stupid hat thought that a girl that couldn't even talk to a goddamn painting was perfectly suited for that house. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, she looked around for any of the older students so that she could ask them for directions to the great hall but apparently everyone Hogwarts hated waking up early because there was absolutely no one walking around, not even a staff member. She sighed again(she had been doing a lot of that this morning) and began walking down the stairs, briefly wondering if she was going to regret walking down a bunch of strange stairs.

After a few wrong turns, many moving stairs, and a lot of talking portraits, Louella finally found herself in front of the great hall. It was still very early by the time Louella got to the great hall, so it was still mostly early, in fact, there were only two students at the Gryffindor table, Noa Sinistra and some older boy that looked about 14. She made her way over to her table and sat down. People were slowly piling in and going to their respective houses and Louella was in the middle of eating her cereal when she heard the scraping noise of a bench being moved and saw Maya sitting down next to her, "I hate Ann Sunstar," she declared, running her hand through her huge curls. Louella gave her a disappointed look, "How can you say that?" She demanded, "You barely know her!"

"I don't want to know her!" Maya exclaimed, "She's awful and annoying- and she's here."

"What?"

"She's here, in the great hall, at the doorway with that poor girl, Charlotte Mikaelson, I feel so bad for her, having to deal with Ann Sunstar spewing about how amazing her mansion is and how rich her parents are."

"Come on, I'm sure she's not that bad."

"Hi, I'm Ann Ryanne Sunstar, very nice to meet you," Ann said as she sat down in front of the two blondes, Charlotte Mikaelson timidly following her. Louella had to take a moment to grasp just how ridiculous that name was. Ann was a nice name to have, and so was Ryanne, but together it just sounded stupid- not to mention just how ridiculous the surname Sunstar was. She braved a glance at Maya who seemed to be holding back a few snickers, she looked back at Ann with a worried expression, hoping that she hadn't noticed. Luckily, she didn't and if she did, she didn't make a big deal out of it.

"So, Louella, are your parents rich? Mine are," Ann said snobbishly and Maya glared at her. Louella looked at her with absolutely no emotions on her face and said, "I don't have parents." This revelation caused Maya to glare harder at Ann who didn't seem at all fazed by Louella's words, "Oh I'm so sorry, but do you think that they were rich when they were alive?" "No, I don't think that I know that they weren't rich." This time Ann truly did look sorry, "Oh, that's so horrible!" She suddenly gasped, "Do you think that's the reason they died? They couldn't take being poor anymore so they went and offed themselves, oh how sad!" Maya looked just about ready to hit Ann but Louella didn't really care about what Ann had been saying, "Yeah, I know it's just so so sad." She turned back to Maya so that she could talk to what she considered her new friend but it seemed that Ann wasn't taking that.

"Right, right, so, how does it feel to be poor?" Ann asked, and they heard a scoff. They turned around and saw that it was Noa Sinistra who scoffed, "Yes?" Ann demanded, "Nothing, I just think you're rude is all," Noa said, getting up and sitting all the way down the table, far away from Ann. Ann scoffed, "How rude," she said before turning back to Louella, "Anyway-" "Hold that thought," Maya interrupted, "Professor McGonagall's handing out the timetables," she pointed out. It was true, making her way down the red and gold table was the emerald robe wearing witch handing out the timetables for the year. She stopped right behind Louella and gave the four girls their timetables before walking away.

Louella looked down at her timetable, today she had Herbology with the Ravenclaws, Charms with the Ravenclaws, lunch, History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs, and Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. Ann groaned, causing Louella to look up, "What is it?" She asked, "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins tomorrow," Ann answered looking at her timetable with distaste, "What's wrong with Slytherin?" Lou asked, "I have a friend there," Ann began laughing, "Really?" She asked, "What'd they do? Bribe you with money?" Louella turned red, "No, she was just nice to me, that's all," Maya wanted to hit Ann again but she was suddenly distracted by the flock of owls as they swooped in with a bunch of packages and letters, dropping them in front of their respective owners.

A screech owl dropped a letter in front of Maya, nipped a little bit on her ear and flew away. Maya looked the letter over and then put it away in her bag, "Ann and her big mouth are preoccupied with that package from home, this is our moment to get away," Maya whispered to Louella, "What about your letter?" Louella whispered back, "I'll read after classes or at lunch, I don't care as long as we can get out of here before Ann's big mouth opens up again." And with that she stood up, dragging Louella up with her and out of the great hall. "I told you Ann Ryanne Sunstar was horrible," Maya was saying as she dragged Maya up the grand staircase, "She's mean but I still don't hate her," said Lou before stopping and ripping her arm away Maya's so that she would stop as well, "Maya, where are we going?" "To our first class," Maya answered an obvious tone laced in her voice. Louella stared at Maya for a few seconds before answering, "Maya... our first class is Herbology, which should be outside," Louella pointed out, "...To the outside then!" And she grabbed Lou's arm and began dragging her down the staircase.


End file.
